Question about television

[Johalla]

Yeah yeah I know you don't go on a cruise to watch TV. But I do like to watch TV when I am relaxing in my room.

 

We have only been on 2 cruises so far, Carnival and RC. We may try Princess next. On Carnival there was a lot more TV to chose from. I don't expect live TV don't get me wrong but a little variety is wished for. RC was horrible. Very few channels and at least half of those weren't in English. Sailing to and from the US I would just expect more English.

 

Are all the RC ships out of the US generally the same in this aspect?

 

Is one cruise line or ship much better than all the rest with this?

 

So far with our limited experience, the Carnival ship wins this category hands down.

 

But that is why I am asking you guys with so much more experience. Is one line better or is a ship by ship difference? Who is best?

 

Thanks! :cool:

[BruceMuzz]

Yeah yeah I know you don't go on a cruise to watch TV. But I do like to watch TV when I am relaxing in my room.

 

We have only been on 2 cruises so far, Carnival and RC. We may try Princess next. On Carnival there was a lot more TV to chose from. I don't expect live TV don't get me wrong but a little variety is wished for. RC was horrible. Very few channels and at least half of those weren't in English. Sailing to and from the US I would just expect more English.

 

Are all the RC ships out of the US generally the same in this aspect?

 

Is one cruise line or ship much better than all the rest with this?

 

So far with our limited experience, the Carnival ship wins this category hands down.

 

But that is why I am asking you guys with so much more experience. Is one line better or is a ship by ship difference? Who is best?

 

Thanks! :cool:

 

You are correct.

Most people do not go on a cruise to watch television.

As late as the mid-1990s, there were cruise ships from the bigger lines that had no televisions at all in staterooms, and perhaps just one or two in lounges.

 

Cruise ships are not legally allowed to broadcast live television broadcasts to paying passengers - unless they purchase very expensive decoding licenses from satellite companies. That is why most cruise ships do not carry network television broadcasts - except for special events like Super Bowl or World Cup Games. The decoding license for showing the Super Bowl last year on my ship alone cost us US$40,000.

A few cruise lines (Carnival and Disney) - who carry more of a mainstream American clientele - have worked out deals with local American broadcasters to receive slightly delayed broadcasts from local networks, effectively getting around the requirement to purchase an expensive decoding license.

 

But many cruise lines today are carrying less than 50% American clientele. Except for the 7-day "milk run" cruises out of US ports, the majority of our passengers have little interest in watching American television on a cruise ship.

[leaveitallbehind]

The multi language channels on RCI typically are with news stations and the daily movies which, aside from English, are duplicated usually in Spanish, French, German, etc., for the benefit of those foreign guests on board.

 

RCI does have a rather limited satellite feed with the variety of channels offered, but usually will have four or five different selections including the news and movies. They also have the ship board channels as well with information and broadcasts of ship activity.

Edited May 9, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[ducklite]

Pretty typical in my experience on four lines. Actually RCCL probably had more TV than the others I've been on. On Windstar we had BBC and CNN International--when the satellites picked them up, and on the Paul Gauguin we had CNBC and BBC. NO other English stations. DCL had CNN and maybe ESPN and the Disney Channel and maybe ABC. Maybe. Mostly Disney movies and marketing loops.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head whan you said people don't go on a cruise for the TV. We pretty much only want a news channel in English--even Al Jazeera will work in a pinch--just to stay at least a little in the loop while we're getting dressed in the morning.

[cadien]

Someone recently posted this list in their NCL Dawn review :

 

Channel 1 - Info

Channel 2 - Navigation

Channel 3 - Restaurant Info

Channel 4 - Safety

Channel 5 - Shopping

Channel 6 - Destinations

Channel 7 - Bow Camera

Channel 8 - Activities (I think this was the channel rerunning shows)

 

Channel 9 - Favorites - this was an interesting substitute for network channels, as it carried reruns of an odd assortment of cable and network shows. A lot of Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, the Middle, Fringe, a lot of various Food Network shows, some Travel Channel and a lot of House Hunters International.

 

Channel 10 - Fox News (which I guess if you like it, is better than generic CNN Intl on Carnival)

Channel 11 - ESPN Intl which Carnival had, but only in the bars, not in your cabin.

Channel 12 - MSNBC

Channel 13 - CNBC

Channel 14 - BBC World News

 

Channel 15 - New Release Movies - This channel showed all movies that had just been released on DVD, in a rotation, all week.

Not one all day, but a constant rotation all week.

 

For example, the first day-

Frozen, Hunger Games-Catching Fire, Free Birds, Delivery Man, Thor:The Dark World, Gravity, The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug

Those 7 movies just played in a constant, yet shifting, rotation all day, every day, throughout the cruise.

Until the final night when a few new movies got added in for the next week I guess. Grudge Match, Jobs and another movie played in the wee hours debarkation morning.

 

Channel 16 - Feature movies - Movies released on DVD years ago.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hunger Games, Thor (anybody who hadn't seen the first 2 parts of these series could catch up) Captain America:The First Avenger, Iron Man 2, Meet the Fockers, A League of Their Own, Fifty First Dates, Skyfall, The Bourne Legacy, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Rock of Ages, Up, The Social Network, The Proposal, The Muppets, Sherlock Holmes, Pitch Perfect, Men In Black 3, Lincoln, Jurassic Park, The Big Miracle, the Artist, Crazy, Stupid Love, Rocky, Chicago, the Smurfs, etc..

 

Channel 18 - Engage

[Johalla]

Thanks for the helpful response Cadien! :)

[Life is Good Cruising]

Cruise lines don't want you to be to comfortable watching TV, they want you out and about spending money on board.